Mexican Federalist War

The Mexican Federalist War was a series of armed secessionist uprisings launched by Mexico's federal subjects against the centralist government of Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna between 1835 and 1848. Santa Anna's intent to centralize the Mexican government and take autonomy away from the states led to many states declaring their secession from the centralist government, but all of these uprisings were eventually crushed.

Background
After Mexican independence in 1821, the First Mexican Empire was created under the rule of Emperor Agustin Iturbide. Iturbide was ousted from power by the republican opposition in 1823, and the first republic's constitution was created in 1824. This constitution established a federal republic modelled after the United States, with Mexico being divided into autonomous federal subjects. However, the country was soon divided between the centralist Conservative Party of Mexico and the federalist Liberal Party of Mexico, and the contention turned violent when the Conservatives murdered President Vicente Guerrero in a coup. In mid-1835, the Conservatives established the Constituent Congress, which enacted the Constitutional Bases on 23 October 1835 and the Seven Constitutional Laws on 30 December 1836, establishing governmental and administrative centralization in the country. The Seven Laws replaced the 1824 Constitution with seven new laws: the establishment of the Catholic Church as the state church, the creation of the Supreme Conservative Power, organized the powers of the union (three laws), the replacement of local legislatures with departmental boards, and an agreement that the laws could not be modified for three years. In addition, the Presidency was extended to eight years, the vice-presidency was abolished, the Presidency could now appoint governors, only those who had property or capital could vote or be candidates, and the national government was given control of the entire budget of the republic.

Wars
When the government attempted to dissolve the militia corps of Zacatecas, Governor Francisco Garcia Salinas began a rebellion of 4,000 Zacatecans against the centralist government. Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna left Miguel Barragan as the head of the presidency as he personally led the governmental response to the revolt, and his 3,400-strong army defeated the Zacatecans at Zacatecas on 11 April 1835. The Centralist forces proceeded to enter Zacatecas and display disorderly conduct, stealing the houses of foreigners. As a punishment to Zacatecas, Aguascalientes was separated from the rest of the state and made a territory of the federation on 23 May 1835.

At the same time, the American settlers in Texas under Stephen F. Austin became discontented with the rise of Santa Anna's centralist dictatorship in Mexico City. Austin was imprisoned by the Mexican government while attempting to discuss the Texan settlers' issues, leading to the start of the Texas Revolution at the Battle of Gonzales on 2 October 1835. The Texian Army was formed by the rebellious settlers, and they captured the capital of Bexar, which allowed for them to form the secessionist Republic of Texas. Santa Anna himself led an army into Texas in an effort to end the uprising, and, despite a victory at the Battle of the Alamo, Santa Anna's army was surprised and defeated by Sam Houston at the Battle of San Jacinto on 21 April 1836, and Santa Anna himself was captured. On 14 May, Santa Anna signed the Treaty of Velasco, recognizing the independence of Texas in exchange for his release. President Jose Justo Corro, however, did not recognize Texan independence, and Texas would remain at odds with Mexico until its 1845 annexation by the United States.

The Texas Revolution was limited to the lands north of the Nueces River, however. On 17 January 1840, a group of notables from Coahuila, Nuevo Leon, Tamaulipas, and Mexican Texas met at Laredo and planned the formation of a new republic, the Republic of the Rio Grande. The state legislatures, however, asked for help from the central government in quelling the rebellions, and the rebels asked for help from Texan president Mirabeau B. Lamar. However, Lamar refused, as he was seeking Mexican recognition of his own country. After a series of defeats, the insurgent commander Antonio Canales Rosillo met with the Mexican general Mariano Arista on 6 November, and Canales accepted the rank of Brigadier-General in the Mexican Army in exchange for ending his secessionist plans.

The Mexican state of Tabasco had taken up arms against the centralist government in 1839, and, in January 1841, the federalists triumphed and overthrew the centralist governor Jose Ignacio Gutierrez. President Anastasio Bustamante responded by having the port of San Juan Bautista closed, affecting the economic life of the territory. On 13 February 1841, Tabasco formally declared its separation from Mexico. Months later, Santa Anna revoked Bustamante's decree and assured the Tabasco authorities that federalism would be reinstated, and Tabasco was reincorporated on 2 December 1842. In November 1846, Tabasco briefly separated from Mexico once more under Colonel Juan Bautista Traconis as a protest to a lack of government help during the US occupation of the state, but it rejoined Mexico in December.

The largest revolt within present-day Mexico occurred in Yucatan. On 29 May 1839, a revolution broke out in Yucatan, and, after a series of Yucatecan victories, the centralist government declared war on the rebels. On 4 March 1840, the Republic of Yucatan declared its secession from Mexico, and a constitution was created on 31 March 1841. The new constitution guaranteed freedom of worship, freedom of the press, and other liberal reforms, and a formal declaration of independence was made on 1 October 1841. After negotiations with Yucatan failed, Santa Anna sent troops to subdue the republic, but they were defeated; Santa Anna then initiated a commercial blockade. The blockade forced the Yucatecan leaders to return to negotiations, and relations with Mexico were restored on 5 December 1843. In 1845, President Jose Joaquin de Herrera ignored the treaties, again causing a rupture of Mexico-Yucatan relations. Federalism was restored in 1846, leading to Yucatan rejoining Mexico, although the peasants opposed reincorporation due to the concurrent Mexican-American War. On 30 July 1847, the Caste War broke out in Yucatan, and it would continue until 1901. The indigenous war forced Yucatan to seek help from Mexico, and it was reincorporated on 17 August 1848.

Aftermath
With the notable exception of the Republic of Texas, all of the other federalist revolts were suppressed. In 1845, the United States annexed Texas, leading to the Mexican-American War, during which Santa Anna's power was weakened, ultimately resulting in the restoration of federalism in 1846. The Second Federal Republic was founded on 22 August 1846, and the Constitution of 1824 was restored; by the end of the Mexican-American War in 1848, all of the remaining secessionist states had rejoined Mexico. Unfortunately, continued political instability would lead to the creation of the short-lived filibuster republics of Sonora and Lower California and the Reform War in the 1850s.